The invention relates to a conveyor device according to the precharacterizing clause of claim 1.
A conveyor device comprising a guide rail and transport means guided on the guide rail and driven in a conveying direction is known from patent specification CH 382 768. This known conveyor device makes it possible to grasp printing products, convey them along the rail and deposit them at a distant location.
One disadvantage of this known device is the fact that the conveying means are at a relatively long distance from one another, and the printing products can therefore be conveyed only with a low density. Moreover, the conveying means, which in each case comprise a conveying carriage and a holding means, are connected fixedly to one another and are made relatively large.
An object of the invention is to develop a conveyor device in such a way that the transport means arranged on a guide rail can convey a product stream with high flexibility and high density.
This object is achieved by means of a conveyor device having the features of claim 1. Claims 2 to 12 relate to further advantageous embodiment [sic] of the conveyor device. The object is also achieved by means of a conveyor system having the features of claim 13 and by means of a guide rail designed in adaptation to the conveyor device and having the features of claim 14.
The object is achieved, in particular, by means of a conveyor device comprising a guide rail and at least one transport means guided on the guide rail and driven in a conveying direction, a ferromagnetic flux-conducting member arranged fixedly relative to the guide rail comprising a magnet, and the transport means having in each case two ferromagnetic flux-conducting parts which are located at a distance from one another and are designed and arranged in such a way that, on the one hand, a magnetic circuit is formed between a ferromagnetic article part bearing releasably on the transport means, and in such a way that, on the other hand, the flux-conducting parts and the flux-conducting member are arranged in adaptation to one another, at the same time forming an air gap, in such a way that the two flux-conducting parts form with the flux-conducting member a magnetic circuit for exerting a magnetically generated attractive force on the article part.
The conveyor device comprises a guide rail with a plurality of transport means guided on the guide rail. These transport means have, in a preferred embodiment, a load side on which an article to be transported can be mounted or onto which an article to be transported can be deposited. Each transport means comprises a plurality of sliding or rolling means which are designed, in particular, as a pin or as a wheel engaging, for example, into oppositely arranged V-shaped grooves of a guide rail, so that the transport means is guided by the guide rail in a conveying direction. The transport means has two ferromagnetic flux-conducting parts which are arranged at a distance from one another and which at one end open out on the load side and at their other end are arranged in alignment with a ferromagnetic flux-conducting member, at the same time forming an air gap. This flux-conducting member comprises a magnet which is designed, for example, as a permanent magnet. The magnet, the flux-conducting members and the flux-conducting parts thus form a magnetic circuit. When a ferromagnetic article part is laid onto the load side, it is attracted by the transport means as a result of the magnetically generated attractive force and is thereby held on the transport means.
The conveyor device according to the invention thus makes it possible for an article to be transported or a ferromagnetic article part to be connected to the transport means or else separated from the transport means in an activatable manner via magnetically acting forces. The article to be transported may rest directly on the transport means. There is also the possibility, however, of arranging on the ferromagnetic article part a further means suitable for transporting an article, for example a carrying part arranged above the article part or a holding means suspended from the article part.
The ferromagnetic flux-conducting member, which, in a preferred embodiment, is arranged so as to extend on both sides of a guide rail, may extend in the conveying direction of the guide rail over a relatively long portion or over the entire length of the guide rail. A ferromagnetic flux-conducting member designed in this way has a plurality of magnets arranged at a distance from one another in the conveying direction, so that the magnetic circuit has at every point a sufficiently high magnetic flux to hold the article part securely on the transport means. A magnetic flux is thus generated at every point on a transport means moving along the guide rail in a conveying direction, so that the article part, which bears on the load side of the transport means, constantly experiences an attractive magnetic force.
The magnets may also be designed as electromagnets, the electromagnet consisting at least of a coil wound around the flux-conducting member. The advadtage of an electromagnet is that the magnitude of the magnetic flux and therefore the magnitude of the magnetically generated attractive force can be controlled. A ferromagnetic flux-conducting member may also comprise a permanent magnet and an electromagnet, the electromagnet being capable of being controlled in such a way that the permanent magnet and the electromagnet either generate in each case mutually intensifying magnetic fluxes running in the same direction or generate in each case mutually reducing magnetic fluxes running in opposite directions.
The conveyor device according to the invention is suitable, in particular, for the conveyance of printing products. The article part may be designed, for example, as a rail-guideable conveying means, as disclosed in U.S. pending application Ser. No. 09/555,319, filed on May 22, 2000 which is based upon CH patent application No. 1997 2962/97 of the same applicant, filed on the same day and entitled xe2x80x9cRail-guideable conveying means and guide rail for guiding the conveying meansxe2x80x9d. Further embodiments and applications of the conveyor device according to the invention are disclosed in U.S. pending applications Ser. Nos. 09/554,546 and 09/554,539 both filed on May 12, 2000 and which are based upon CH patent applications Nos. 1997 2963/97 and 1997 2964/97 of the same applicant, filed on the same day and entitled xe2x80x9cConveyor systemxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cConveyor device and corresponding transport meansxe2x80x9d.